money lente for hem They answerd that they wold not paye ner
lene And than fabius sente his sone to rome & made hym to selle his
heritage & patrimonye/ and fente the money that he resseyuyd therof vnto
hanibal/ And had leuer & louyd better to be poure in his contrey of
herytage/ than of byleue and fayth/ But in thyfe dayes hit were grete
folye to haue fuche affiance in moche peple but yf they had ben preuyd
afore For oftentymes men truste in them by whom they ben deceyuyd at
theyr nede/ And it is to wete that these crafty men and werkemen ben
souerainly prouffitable vnto the world And wyth oute artificers and
werkmen the world myght not be gouerned/ And knowe thou verily that alle
tho thynges that ben engendrid on the erthe and on the see/ ben made and
formed for to do prouffit vnto the lignage of man/ for man was formed
for to haue generacion/ that the men myght helpe and prouffit eche other
And here in ought we to folowe nature/ For she shewed to vs that we
shold do comyn prouffit one to an other/ And y'e first fondement of
Iustice is that no man shold noye or greue other But that they ought doo
the comyn prouffit/ For men saye in reproche That I see of thyn/ I hope
hit shall be myn But who is he in thyse dayes that entendeth more to the
comyn prouffit than to his owne/ Certaynly none/ But all way a man ought
to haue drede and feere of his owne hows/ whan he seeth his neyghbours
hous a fyre And therfore ought men gladly helpe the comyn prouffit/ for
men otherwhile sette not be a lityll fyre And might quenche hit in the
begynnyng/ that afterward makyth a grete blasyng fyre. And fortune hath
of no thinge so grete playsir/ as for to torne & werke all way/ And
nature is so noble a thynge that were as she is she wyll susteyne and
kepe/ but this rewle of nature hath fayllid longe tyme/ how well that
the decree sayth that alle the thynges that ben ayenst the lawe of
nature/ ought to be taken away and put a part And he sayth to fore in
the .viii. distinction that the ryght lawe of nature differenceth ofte
tymes for custome & statutes establisshid/ for by lawe of nature all
thinge ought to be comyn to euery man/ and this lawe was of old tyme And
men wene yet specially y't the troians kept this lawe And we rede that
the multitude of the Troians was one herte and one sowle/ And verayly we
fynde that in tyme passid the philosophres dyde the same/ And also hit
is to be supposyd that suche as haue theyr goodes comune & not propre is